20G - Apistogramma cacatuoides

[bizfromqc]

VIDEO UPDATE - Fry Day 5

Click here to watch the video on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KByU7xQQ21M

Everyone seems to be doing OK. Still 3 small daily feedings of BBS until the live ones hatch.

You'll notice a blue tinge on the video, that's from the new light (Hagen Glo T5 HO 2 x 24W) that has a 10000k and actinic bulb in it (used to be used by a salty before Rah sold it to me  ) I just put it on top of the tank to test it and went back to my CLF until I get my new bulbs (1 x Flora Sun @ 5000k and 1 x Ultra Sun @ 6500k).

Enjoy!

[brotherluv]

Cool video. Lots of the little guys!

[daworldisblack]

Looking good! It should look awesome once you get your bulbs in!

[pm]

You'll notice a blue tinge on the video, that's from the new light (Hagen Glo T5 HO 2 x 24W) that has a 10000k and actinic bulb in it (used to be used by a salty before Rah sold it to me  ) I just put it on top of the tank to test it and went back to my CLF until I get my new bulbs (1 x Flora Sun @ 5000k and 1 x Ultra Sun @ 6500k).

Hey Eric, that might be too much light for the tank without CO2.  I will let the guru guys comment on this, but just wanted to give you a heads-up.  It might be okay as it is a tall tank.  Of course if it is too much light, you could raise the fixture a bit.

[bizfromqc]

Hey Eric, that might be too much light for the tank without CO2.  I will let the guru guys comment on this, but just wanted to give you a heads-up.  It might be okay as it is a tall tank.  Of course if it is too much light, you could raise the fixture a bit.

You think so hey? I've been wondering about that. Right now I've got 2 x 23W CFLs pendant-style sitting right on top and things have been OK (mind you some plants are clearly showing deficiencies) for what I've been keeping in there. Maybe it was a sign of too much light and not enough of everything else... CLFs are inneficient so I thought that was the cause but maybe not...

The T5HO are probably way more efficient so I'm going to have to see how that affects everything in there. That puts me @ 2.4 WPG. I've been doing daily dosing of Flourish Excel (2ml) and weekly of Flourish Comprehensive (can't remember the dosing). I also plan to add macro nutrients to the mix as well to try to balance things out. Hopefully the Excel will be enough for now as a carbon source but we'll see. Ultimately, if I could get away with a Excel + EI dosing situation, it would be great (for now).

That being said, I'd love a proper CO2 system but my b-day is only in July LOL

I'm sure DJ Plant-Master (Errol) will have something to say about this 

[fischkopp]

I was running one of those Hagen light over a 20H for a while. You can do it without CO2, but you want to be below 8h of light. The 10k bulb is probably ok and not as intense. You only need to switch the actinic.

[charlie]

I'm sure DJ Plant-Master (Errol) will have something to say about this 

Tell me the song you want to hear & i`ll play it 

[bizfromqc]

Tell me the song you want to hear & i`ll play it 

What do you think about the 2 x 24W over my 20H? Light will be sitting right on the rim...

I don't want to give my apistos a tan either 

[charlie]

What do you think about the 2 x 24W over my 20H? Light will be sitting right on the rim...

I don't want to give my apistos a tan either 

Well if the apistos are like red plants the light will bring out the pigmentation in them 
seriouslyy, it all depends on the plants mas & type of plants, if memory serves me well, you plant mass is minimal & not much supplementing, , although the tank is consideredd tall, it`s not tall enough with that light -2 x 24 wattT5 HO with reflectors is more like 4 WPG if you use the old rule of thumb that was geared around the T12 NO ancient bulbs  :Bottomt line either raise the fixture or wrap 1 old bulb in foil, since if you remove 1 the other will not fire.
Errol

[Peekay]

A few links i found when researching my light, that you may find useful, Eric.

This one shows par readings at certain distances for different bulbs, and where they fall on the 'low' to 'high' light spectrum.  (Notice that its for single bulbs!)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html

Also, this one, which shows lux of different fixtures penetrating to the bottom of a tank in their experimental setup.. shows how effective the glo fixture reflectors are!  It's the brightest dual fixture.. everything that rates higher is quad! 

http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5813/index.html

Hope this helps!

[bizfromqc]

A few links i found when researching my light, that you may find useful, Eric.

This one shows par readings at certain distances for different bulbs, and where they fall on the 'low' to 'high' light spectrum.  (Notice that its for single bulbs!)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html

Also, this one, which shows lux of different fixtures penetrating to the bottom of a tank in their experimental setup.. shows how effective the glo fixture reflectors are!  It's the brightest dual fixture.. everything that rates higher is quad! 

http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5813/index.html

Hope this helps!

Thanks for both links.

Basically, what I'm getting is that although I'm only slightly over 2wpg (@2.4WPG), with the fixture I have and the distance from the fixture to the substrate, I don't even fall into "high light", I fall into "too much light".

If I interpret this chart correctly, I would have to either drop one bulb or raise the fixture 6" to get "high light" or raise the fixture 12" to fall into "medium" light. Seriously? These lights are that good? LOL My reflectors are dirty, maybe that will help me 

I already got my bulbs from MOPS and installed them in the fixture. The tank is not extremely brighter than when I was using 2 x 23W CFL pendants but looks more evenly lit. Although the difference is not dramatic to my eyes, it probably is for the plants. As mentioned in an earlier post, I went with a 5000k bulb and a 6500k bulb, it gives the tank a nice overall look, I like it.

I don't want an algae bloom (who does) but I cant get pressurized CO2 so something will have to give somewhere... I really like the combo of the red and white bulbs so I'll probably keep both but raise the fixture and go from there.

Who knew I was getting THAT efficient of a fixture LOL But now I cant use it to its full potential until I go full blown CO2 

Fischkopp, can you tell me a bit more about your setup when you had this fixture over a 20H? What was your photo period, plants, dosing, co2? If you were able to do this successfully, I'd like to learn from what you did and apply it to my tank.

On a side note, i had to remove the Vals and Hornwort from the tank. The Vals were melting and fouling up my water and the hornwort were basically down to a string. I wonder why I wasn't able to keep'em?

Not enough light (I had the CFLs), too much light, not enough nutrients, etc... LOL This is driving me bonkers...

The priority now though his to take care of the fry and not get an algae bloom, If I can achieve this, I'll be happy.

[touchofsky]

I have 2 x 24 watt T5HO's sitting on the rim of a 29 gallon tank.  I have a glass canopy over the tank, and between the light and the glass canopy, I put another piece of glass that I lightly whitewashed.  If you find that you have too much light with the fixture, you can reduce the light somewhat by using various means.

[bizfromqc]

I decided to pull the LED fixture from my 25G build since I'm going to have to tear it down (don't ask, I'm still angry about it, read here) and use it on my 20G instead and here's why.

1) New T5HO fixture provides too much light
2) I had to pull some plants out of there since they weren't doing too good (lower plant mass)
3) Apistos prefer dimmer light

... and since I have to teardown the 25G and redo it, the 25G will become the main "planted tank". I think the 25G will be a better home for this for the following reasons:

1) I will be using the new T5HO fixture (Hagen Glo) on it
2) It has a bigger, more powerful canister filter (higher flow better for plants)
3) It is in our main living room and tank, stand, lights and plants will look real nice there
4) It has more real estate (30 x 12) than the 20G (24 x 12)
5) I'll have saved up money for a proper CO2 system by the time i'm ready to set it up.

That being said, I want to keep plants in my apisto tank but I'll make the switch to very low-light that can be kept with LEDs (I'll be referring to Valerie's LED thread for ideas) since I still want to provide a good natural environment for my apistos.

On a different note, the fry are doing great! Mom brings them out of their "spot" more ofter to explore the tank and they seem to get more adventurous, it's a beautiful thing to watch. I watched the mom and fry for about an hour yesterday, it's just fascinating.

I will try to get a video for you guys to see sometimes this weekend.

Meanwhile, here's what the apisto tank now looks like with the LED fixture (it's not on yet, just sitting on top).

[bizfromqc]

Apistogramma Cacatuoides fry is now 1-week old. Enjoy the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlS_cd1F_Rw

[bizfromqc]

Tank update.

Params
PH: 7.0-7.5
Amonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: <0.1ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

Don't know why I can't get rid of those last traces of Nitrite. I keep up with my water changes and my fish are thriving so I'm not going to sweat it and keep doing what I do.

That tank has now been running with the Marineland Double Bright LED light fixture for a couple of weeks now and everytyhing seems to be adjusting just fine. It may be psychological but I could swear the Red Tiger Lotus is doing better with the LED than it was with my CFL pendant... The Creeping Jennys have been doing great. I snipped them in half and replanted for more coverage 

I also added two more plants:

1) Mayaca Fluviatilis
2) Rotala Macrandra Green

I moved the HOB filter and put the heater vertically to give me more background real estate and put the two new plants in the far back left portion of the tank.

The female and apisto fry rarely ventured to the left portion of the tank and only did so when I turned off the HOB filter for feedings. That's why I decided to move the HOB filter a bit more to the right and added a sponge on the output to decrease the output flow a bit. Since then, I don't even have to turn off the filter for feedings and the fish go all over the tank, they especially like to hangout in the Mayaca Fluviatilis and in/on/under the Creeping Jennys.

All-in-all, everyone seems to be happy about the changes 

[touchofsky]

I am glad that your tank is doing so well.  The little guy is really cute!

[bettabreeder]

Very cool! The little guy is awesome


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[bizfromqc]

The little guys sure are small but growing really quickly.
Watching them eat BBS is a treat. I can't wait to see how they'll turn out as they mature.

[DaWolfe]

Good job buddy!!  The kids are looking great.  Have you named them yet?

[bizfromqc]

Good job buddy!!  The kids are looking great.  Have you named them yet?

If I get 26 or more (looks like I may have more at this time), I was thinking of naming them from A to Z 

Working on a video...